paronymous a. (linguistics) allied by derivation from the same root; having the same stem; for example: wise and wisdom
A paronym can also be a word that has the same sound as another.
“Lotty, my fragrant little Chicken Pie, did you know that if you mouthed the words ‘elephant juice’ to someone who is lip reading, it looks to them like you are saying ‘I love you’? Try this almost paronymous phrase now in front of a mirror.
While you’re doing that, I would just like to say elephant juice, elephant juice, elephant juice. I ought to inform you that there’s a quaint old English ritual that isn’t written down anywhere, whereby saying that three times means we’re betrothed. I’ll book the church.”
For a glorious example of myriad words that are spelt almost identically, but pronounced in ridiculously different ways, see a poem called The Chaos here. It demonstrates the irregularity of English spelling and pronunciation and is written by Dutch writer, traveller and teacher Gerard Nolst Trenité (1870-1946), who was also known under the mysterious pseudonym Charivarius.
I challenge anyone who reads this to record themselves reading that poem aloud, post it and send me the link. I dare you! There’s a shorter version here for those of you who don’t have three hours to spare.
